Microsoft Edge for Android Gets Adblock Plus Integration and More

Microsoft Edge is one of the last browsers on would use on an Android phone, considering that everyone almost always sticks with Chrome. The browser is relatively new to the Android ecosystem as Microsoft made the first beta version of Edge on Android available back in October of 2017.

Since then, it has continued to get regular updates and new features. Today, Microsoft Edge has received four new features. One of them is highly sought-after on the mobile platform, as Chrome is yet to implement it fully. We’re talking about native support for ad-blockers such as AdBlock Plus. Now, AdBlock Plus isn’t what it was in its heyday, but that’s all we have until uBlock Origin gets an Android Port.

You can enable AdBlock by going into app’s settings, where you’ll find a new “Content blockers” section. For now, the browser only supports Adblock Plus, but we should expect to see other blockers make their way soon. You can even toggle “acceptable ads” and add your favourite websites to the whitelist if you so choose.

The next new feature is intelligent visual search, which is essentially Google Lens-esque functionality integrated into the browser. The feature is enabled by default, so there isn’t any setting up involved, and it’ll work right off the bat. The update also brings some includes performance improvements, as well as improved book reading experience, and more. Here is the full changelog:

Content blocking with Adblock Plus is now available under Settings

Intelligent visual search gives you a cool new way to find contact info, identify landmarks, or find similar images based on a photo

See organization-managed favorites and internal web apps on Intune-managed work and school accounts

A better book reading experience including ability to see/add bookmarks and to change text spacing

Performance improvements

You can download the latest version of Microsoft Edge using this link. Personally, I’m not too fond of Microsoft Edge on any platform, but I’m definitely going to give it a spin only for the ad-blocker integration. The update looks reminiscent to the one Samsung Internet got recently, and it’s good to see companies integrating some much-needed features into their mobile browsers.